This Saturday morning, as San Francisco gathers before dawn at Lotta’s Fountain to remember the 1906 earthquake and fire, belting out the famous tune “San Francisco,” organizer Lee Houskeeper will stroll off into the sunrise. After 39 years helping to put on the annual commemoration, Houske eper is stepping aside, letting the volunteer-run Guardians of the City take on the heavy lifting. “I’m honored, honored to do it,” Houskeeper said, sitting in an empty upstairs dining room of John’s Grill. “Even though I bitched a lot, I’m totally honored to do it.” The estimated 7.9 magnitude quake killed more than 3,000 people and wiped massive swaths of the city. Houskeeper began helping at the event with his then-girlfriend, the late Taren Sapienza, who had organized the gathering for three decades. His initial job was tracking down survivors of the disaster and interviewing them. “I’d go to talk to these survivors, who were wonderful,” Houskeeper said. “They all had a certain look and a certain sense of humor, very droll — you know, ‘Nothing’s going to shake me after what I’ve been through.’” Houskeeper, who describes himself as a press agent, took over much of the operation — renting the stage, lighting, buying the ceremonial wreath that’s draped on the fountain, and shepherding the survivors who dwindled to a few. The last known survivor, Bill DelMonte, died in 2016 at the age of 109. “When there were no survivors left, I was like, ‘That’s it,'” Houskeeper said. clapping his hands. Houskeeper figured the end of the survivors would bring an end to the event, which includes a moment of silence, followed by sirens and then singing. But a conversation with San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte changed his mind. “Carl Nolte looked at me and he said, ‘It’s never been about the survivors. San Francisco is the survivor,'” Houskeeper recalled. So the event and Houskeeper shouldered on another decade, even through the pandemic where people gathered at the fountain and paid tribute in masks. Houskeeper’s fascination with the ceremonial gathering spot, Lotta’s Fountain on Market Street, began long ago. In 1995, Willie Brown had just decided to run for mayor of San Francisco and Houskeeper approached him for a campaign promise. If elected, he wanted Brown to get the water running in the fountain again. “Nobody had ever thought of fixing the water problem and having, in fact, the fountain Lotta’s fountain erupt and operate,” Brown said. “That was Lee’s thought.” Brown got elected and made good on his pledge, although the job was more laborious than anyone imagined. Houskeeper wandered down to watch the work one day. From out of a giant hole in the asphalt popped then-public works director Ed Lee, shouting to turn off the water because the old plumbing was about to explode. The water was eventually restored. “The mayor kept his promise,” Houskeeper said. “What can I say?” Houskeeper said nonprofit Guardians of the City, a group devoted to the history of the city’s first responders, has already been helping to organize the event the last few years and will be the right fit to take over. He said the San Francisco Fire Department will also be taking a bigger role in putting on the ceremony, which was privately run in he past. Brown said the city owes a debt of gratitude for Houskeeper’s efforts. “I don’t think there’ll be anybody as dedicated on an ongoing basis as Lee really was for the whole business of doing what you needed to do,” Brown said. This Saturday’s ceremony will take place at 5:12 a.m. Houskeeper’s grandkids and family will be on hand for his finale as organizer. As for next year. “Probably I’m going to sleep in,” Houskeeper said. “And see what it looks like on TV.” ...read more read less